By Dayne Rugh, For The Bulletin
Historically Speaking: Lebbeus Quy’s Fight for Independence
The Declaration of Independence famously asserted, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” These words have rung loudly in the halls of our American government and in the minds of Americans everywhere.
But the fact is that these words did not fully encompass every individual living in America. For generations, large populations of individuals and families forcibly transported across the Atlantic were not considered people, they were considered property. One of those individuals was Lebbeus Quy of Norwich.
Lebbeus Quy lived a life of enslavement under Norwich’s Daniel Brewster. Born and baptized in the year 1753, Lebbeus was among over 200 African Americans living in Norwich before the outbreak of the American Revolution. Norwich became the 12th largest city in the American colonies by 1774 and at the same time had one of the largest Black populati